EPA Agrees to Cut Lead in Children's Products

Companies that make children's products will now be under tougher scrunity from the Environmental Protection Agencies to keep the lead out. Bowing to legal pressure, the agency agreed to write to up to 120 companies, informing them that they must provide health and safety studies if any lead might be found in their kid's products.

Last year a 4-year-old died of lead poisoning after swallowing part of a heart-shaped charm bracelet. The death lead the Sierra Club and the Improving Kids' Environment group to petition the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to monitor and ban the making of any children's jewelry that contains lead. The EPA rejected the petition, so the two groups sued the agency. The letters are the result of the settlement.